Did you know that even though your brain weighs 2% of your total body weight, it uses 25% of all oxygen you breathe and 15% of your body’s blood supply?

Did you know the average human brain contains around 78% water?

Did you know that when recognizing a persons’ face you use the right side of your brain?

Our brains are so intricate and interesting! Let’s look at the CEREBRUM which is the largest part of our brain; it is divided into four sections or lobes.

The FRONTAL lobe is used for expressive language, reasoning, cognition, and motor skills. Any damage to this lobe can result in changes in socialization, attention, and behavior.*

Tactile senses like pain, pressure, and touch are processed in the PARIETAL lobe. Any damage to it can cause problems with language, ability of controlling eye gaze, and verbal memory.*

The duty of the OCCIPITAL lobe is to interpret the information gathered from the eyes. If this area is damaged, the visual ability becomes so impaired that the person is unable to recognize words, colors, or objects.*

The TEMPORAL lob is responsible for our memories and processing sounds recorded by our ears. If damaged, our language skills, speech perception, and memory is affected.*

SOI is frequently asked the question, “Can you help?” The answer is definite yes!

We have used the IPP program and memory training in brain damaged and trauma victims, but scientific research and documentation has not been established. We do know that the process is long and often times painfully frustrating to the client based on personal reports we have received, but results have happened.

WHY? BECAUSE SOI TRAINS THE BRAIN!

If you are working with a trauma victim using the SOI theory, we would love to get your input and results to share with others.

I agree. My topic and thoughts today sound odd. I stand accused of thinking too much about educational challenges, even when sitting in a long line of cars out at the coast of Oregon. A large section of Highway 101 was being repaired for potholes. In the section I was at, it is only a two lane road and the wait ended up to be about 15 minutes going and coming. I was not driving, so I looked up how much potholes cost the American people – billions of dollars. AAA reports the cost of automobile damage resulting from potholes to be 6.5 billion dollars a year.

For learners in our educational system, the learning continuum has many potholes. Learning numbers is easy, but letters and letter sounds is not. Having a great story to write in our thoughts is never expressed in a timely fashion due to struggles with handwriting, spelling, or grammar. Algebra comes more easily than geometry or the other way around. Time spent studying for a test is met with low scores due to poor memory. The history teacher is interesting to listen to, but reading from the history text is a painful experience of reading and rereading to comprehend the unfamiliar information and numerous facts. The potholes in learning are as numerous as in our roads after a hard freeze. Billions of dollars are spent in education on students who struggle to successfully navigate their way through education.

What does this failure to navigate successfully do to the self-esteem and motivation of our students? What poor decisions are made by students out of frustration and repeated failure? How many students turn off the main road and travel roads that lead to negative consequences? How do you start the engine of motivation to learn when on empty?

Happy 2016! As I was contemplating our success and challenges over the past year, while looking forward to the new year, I realized there is a key value in using the SOI philosophy: perseverance. Perseverance is defined as “steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.” I love the synonyms for perseverance: tenacity, determination, staying power, indefatigability, purposefulness; patience, endurance, application, diligence, dedication, commitment, doggedness, tirelessness, stamina; intransigence, obstinacy; stick-to-it-iveness.”

When working with our children and their parents, the process of overcoming learning barriers through training is not easy or quick; it is a not sprint but a marathon. At our school, we believe that building character is an important way to help kids learn the value of perseverance. We use the program “ We Choose Virtues” and recite them and reinforce it in our content. When reciting the virtue of perseverance, we say together, “We are perseverant. We are not going to Continue reading “I Can Do It When It’s Tough”→

Early in the 1990s, I knew in no unmistakable terms that I was to serve “the least of these.” Throughout my career as an educator, I endeavored to do that. But late in 2014, I began to ponder the question again with greater intensity: “Who ARE the least of these that I am compelled to serve?”

Since I had spent a good deal of my time in socioeconomically disadvantaged schools, I had always assumed it was “the poor.” But recently, as I began working with a broader range of students, I realized that “the least of these” fit into an entirely different paradigm. The least of these were not just those who had no material advantages. Difficulty in learning, caused by any number of difficulties, became the great equalizer in this regard.

Was it lack of resources? Yes, for sure, but not material resources. The answer lay in cognitive/academic, social/emotional, and physio-neurological resources. Dr. Mary Meeker outlined it in 1975 to the U.S. Office of Education in the Meeker Paradigm. I had known about the Meeker Paradigm since my earliest exposure to SOI. But as of late, it began taking on new meaning as I pondered the reason for the impact of SOI and why it had so completely changed my approach to learning and teaching and set me on a course that would inform the rest of my life’s work.

When most people think about “kung fu” they immediately think about Chinese martial arts. I have dedicated a large portion of the last 10 years of my life to the study of Chinese martial arts with one of the world’s last true masters. There are many Chinese martial arts styles which fall under the heading of kung fu: Tai Chi, Wudang, Wing Chun, Choy Li Fut, Shoalin, Wushu, amongst many others. But, you might be surprised to know that “kung fu” actually translates as simply “hard work”. Calligraphists, artists, athletes, chefs, and school children in China are all said to practice kung fu (hard work) because what they do takes concentration and extreme effort to get good at it. In fact, there are tea ceremonies (much like those performed in Japan) which are considered some of the highest forms of kung fu because they take a lifetime to perfect.

So, what does any of this have to do with SOI and what we do with it? Well, this gets to the very root of what SOI is! SOI is both an assessment and a protocol of proven exercises (both with the body and the brain) to improve learning abilities. In my opinion, there is much kung fu involved in both stages of this process and on both sides of the coin (the SOI practitioner and the client).

As we all know, there is a certain art to learning to give the SOI assessment, both in understanding what each sub test is asking of the client, and what you can and cannot say during the test. But, the client is the one really performing kung fu! Taking the SOI assessment is hard work as is evidenced by: rubbing of the eyes, rubbing the temples, running hands through hair, shaking of heads, breaking of pencil lead, etc. Many people are truly exhausted after taking the SOI assessment. In fact, Continue reading “SOI and the Art of Kung Fu”→